Cheap Medicines Online – Is it Worth It To Buy Them?

Healthcare inflation has led many people to patronize cheaper drugs. The cheapest substitute to branded medicines is generic drugs. If the doctor recommends a specific branded medicine, one can request for a generic drug with the same effect. Generic drugs are grouped under over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription pill categories. The Congressional Budget Office of the United States reports that consumers saved $8 to $ 10 billion every year by buying generic drugs.

Unlike the manufacturers of branded medicines, generic drug pharmaceuticals do not spend for for development and research. Roughly $32 billion is the cost of developing new drugs, as reported by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The average cost to develop one drug is $897 million, according to the Boston’s Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. These figures explain why new branded drugs are very expensive.

Generic drugs are more inexpensive because they no money is spent on research and development. The generic medicines are created upon the expiry of a branded drug’s patent. The patent’s expiry lets numerous pharmaceutical companies to produce and sell a generic version. As the competition increases, lower-priced drugs sell more. Although the prices are lower, the generics must use the same active ingredients as the branded counterpart. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tasked to make sure that all generic drugs meet their standards.

Generic medicines are available at online pharmacies. These pharmacy sites offer inexpensive quality medicines. However, buying medicines online comes with many risks. Some of these websites are fraudulent sites that do not deliver quality-control medicines. Most of these companies are not even recognized by the US FDA, resulting in customers consuming unsafe drugs from unauthorized pharmacies.

It is imperative to scrutinize the pharmacies selling cheap medicine online. Although these online drugstores offer prices lower than local pharmacies, it is more important to ensure that the products are secure for consumption. It It is more costly to visit a doctor in order to be cured from a fake medicine’s side effects than purchasing more costly but more effective and less harmful drugs from reputable pharmacies.

Opting to buy cheap medicines online comes with its pros and cons. In order to be safe, it is advisable to consult online pharmacy review sites. User comments from these sites will determine the credibility and reliability of the pharmacy’s products and services. It is also important to confirm that the reviews are from actual individuals who have experienced making business with a specific online pharmacy.